


Empty Bravado

by Akaiba



Series: Fools of Us All [2]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Drunk Sex, Drunken Confessions, Drunkenness, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Mistakes, One Night Stands, Rough Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 08:36:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7677532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akaiba/pseuds/Akaiba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aeradun had a plan. It was a vague, formless thing- so he could adapt if needed to- with a very specific end goal- somewhere between a shared drink and ‘marry me’- but if asked; he had a plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empty Bravado

Aeradun had a plan. It was a vague, formless thing- so he could adapt if needed to- with a very specific end goal- somewhere between a shared drink and ‘marry me’- but if asked; he had a plan.

 

Except he hadn't been asked because no one knew he was going anywhere or doing anything that would require a plan. They'd have noticed his absence but he was a grown man and capable of defending himself, it wouldn't be a cause for concern. The only person likely to know where he was, and therefore that maybe there was a smidge of a cause for concern, would be Anahlya and he purposefully gave her the slip. She'd kill him when he got home, sure, but he could handle that later.

 

Right now his only concern was making sure this trip was ‘the one’. Light knew the last, oh four or five, trips hadn't been anything more than embarrassing. But this time it was different because he had a plan.

 

“Just walk over there and say hi,” Aeradun mumbled to himself from where he was definitely not hiding in the doorway of the inn. He was liked enough by the locals to be tolerated, what with having to have some purpose to visit Ratchet so frequently, but he knew a couple of the goblins had worked out his real reason for hanging around. Aeradun had even tried to put a bet of his own in on the betting ring they'd set up. So far the odds were 20 to 1 that he'd trip and fall on his face, 43 to 1 that he'd still be trying to say hello by the next month, 200 to 1 that he'd be dashingly suave and somehow succeed, and 2 to 1 that he'd bottle it and be back next week.

 

He shifted his grip on his staff uncertainly, glaring at the filthy floorboards under his boots as he tried to will himself out the open doorway. It was just a few little steps. Surely he could do that? Just a few steps then say ‘hello’ and the rest would follow. Right?

 

Liv nudged him with a chuckle as she passed, her large green eyes bouncing as she tipped her head up to squint at him. “Need some courage?” The goblin shook her empty tankard at him, clearly on her way to the bar for a refill, “You gotta make a move soon, alright? You're breaking my heart being so mopey.”

 

Aeradun cringed, did the whole port know? Was he so transparent in his pathetic gazing that they all knew? A sick feeling settled in Aeradun’s stomach; did  _ he _ know?

 

His gaze whipped up to look out of the doorway to where Thalo’thas could usually be found only to see that the Captain had moved on. Aeradun had wasted his chance- again!

 

He thudded his head against his staff and groaned. Liv gave him a pitying pat on his thigh where she could reach, her broad palm sturdy enough to knock him a little. “So… drink, huh?”

 

“Yes, please,” Aeradun didn't whine, not at all.

 

It turned out she had a bet on next month being Aeradun’s turning point from pathetically hovering, so she patted him cheerfully and left him to his moping. He could have conjured himself something more palatable but the rum was sharp and sour and it felt good on his equally miserable mood. It burned going down and left him coughing, but it made him feel better after a while in the way most alcohol did.

 

He was scowling his way to the bottom of a second tankard when another tankard slammed down on the table, startling Aeradun into blearily looking up. Neutral territory, sure, but it was still a bar and bar fights were started over much less than a division as wide as the Alliance versus the Horde. 

 

Aeradun was not expecting Thalo’thas to sit down at the table and he gawked openly at the high elf- with his outrageously low cut shirt and hairless chest bared for the world- as he settled across from Aeradun. The sharp blue glow of his eyes were narrowed at Aeradun in pointed, wary curiosity. Aeradun felt like a trapped rabbit under that gaze. 

 

“You keep staring, mage,” His voice was low, rumbling from his chest, but softer than Aeradun had expected. Imagined. Fantasised. “Do not think I have not noticed, all of Ratchet has noticed- the human mage who comes to stare at me from afar,” Thalo’thas’ words had Aeradun’s heart sinking even as he’d already flushed red with embarrassment. He had been correct; Thalo’thas knew. He had known of Aeradun’s foolish infatuation and it looked as though he had tired of it finally.

 

“You… uh, hate humans?” Aeradun surmised from how Thalo’thas had specified the word ‘human’.

  
Thalo’thas raised one long eyebrow at Aeradun, “I hate anyone who inteferes with my business or my ships, but no. Not humans specifically. But you don’t keep coming to stare at me because you wish to hear about my fleet,” Thalo’thas leaned forward in his seat, his eyes roving over Aeradun’s shifting posture, “What is it you want, mage?”

 

‘What he wanted?’ Aeradun wasn’t even sure he knew the answer himself, not fully. His hands were laced tight around his mug, the warm glow of the rum dulling the edge of his mind as he struggled to process what was happening. “I-I don’t mind. Hearing about your fleet,” He choked out. His tongue felt thick and useless in his mouth, as wasted as all the plans and hopes he had for their first conversation. It had finally come and Aeradun couldn’t muster anything at all, not like how Anahlya could if she were there. She’d have flirted Thalo’thas’ pants off if she wanted to but Aeradun hadn’t even been able to manage ‘hello’. 

 

Thalo’thas moved from the seat he had taken opposite, to sitting beside Aeradun instead. A smooth slide of position that put him suddenly very much in Aeradun’s space and the mage immediately went wide-eyed at the boldness. 

 

“It isn’t what you  _ want _ , though. Is it?”

 

“I-I…” Aeradun’s entire body felt warm with Thalo'thas so close. He couldn't think straight, not with how he felt like he was burning up, and not with Thalo'thas’ gaze so firmly on him.

 

Thalo’thas knocked back his tankard and Aeradun wondered for the first time if he wasn't alone in being a little drunker than he should be. His mind felt warm and muggy, even as he fought to regain his thoughts, and Aeradun felt reckless. As though being in a disreputable bar in a goblin port wasn't foolish enough.

 

“I want…” Aeradun’s throat stuck, his tongue heavy and unable to phrase his thoughts.

 

He thought of his dads. He thought of his Papa waking his Dad with breakfast in bed, or his Dad bringing home a small gift for his Papa when he had to be gone a long time. He thought of them walking hand in hand around the city, kissing and so much in love. Aeradun had wanted that for as long as he could remember. He'd dreamed of it, wistfully picturing the guy who would love him like that.

 

Then he'd seen Thalo'thas.

 

It had been like something tight had wound around him and pulled. Aeradun had never met a person who did that to him, who made his hands sweat and his stomach flutter. 

 

He couldn't exactly picture Thalo'thas doing any of the things has fathers did, but the way his heart hammered as Thalo'thas looked at him made him ache for something. Maybe it was just sex. He wouldn’t know, romantic and waiting as he was, but he wasn't sure that was all it was.

 

“I want you,” Aeradun breathed out in a rush. It was a relief to say it, even as it felt like the words wrapped around his throat. He’d put himself out on the line and admitted it, as much fear as hope in his gut as he watched Thalo’thas.

 

The high elf’s mouth quirked in a satisfied smirk as he raised a hand to Wiley, “I know,” He said to Aeradun without taking his eyes from Wiley. He held up two fingers and Wiley jerked his chin in acknowledgement before Thalo’thas eventually turned to look at Aeradun. The mage swallowed hard, his throat clicking at how dry it suddenly was, but he didn’t understand the game Thalo’thas was playing. For all that Thalo’thas had cornered him for Aeradun’s staring, he didn’t seem particularly irritated at the confession. 

 

“Then why…” Aeradun trailed off, glancing from Thalo’thas to the table as Wiley came over with two more drinks. More rum. It was a fight to let go of the vice grip he had on his empty tankard, but Aeradun was grateful for the alcohol in the new one the moment he put it to his mouth. He gulped more greedily than he should have, hacking a cough as Thalo’thas scoffed a laugh and clapped his hand on Aeradun’s back. 

 

“Why ask?” Thalo’thas finished, still smirking. His palm was broad and warm on Aeradun’s back, lingering after it was needed but it didn’t draw back. It moved. Lower. To Aeradun’s thigh. “I didn’t even think you knew what you wanted, but you certainly aren’t brave enough to take it.”

 

It was a taunt. A blatant one. Aeradun wasn’t too drunk not to see it but he met it immediately, his brows furrowed and his jaw clenched, “I  _ am _ .” Thalo’thas didn’t look to be playing a game after all, then. He was gratified by the attention and instead thought Aeradun  _ entertaining _ for his shyness. 

 

“Uh huh,” Thalo’thas chuckled into his tankard, his hand patronisingly patting Aeradun’s thigh one last time before it drew back. “This was amusing,” Thalo’thas said it as a goodbye, already standing with his drink. He was direct and forthright and Aeradun’s inability to do the same was tiresome to the high elf. He was leaving.

 

Aeradun hadn’t exactly imagined Thalo’thas to be princely in his charm but he’d not imagined the high elf to be such an… an  _ asshole _ . What was worse was that it didn’t lessen how much Aeradun wanted him. He knew he was a little spoilt, what with his older sister and Anahlya always watching out for him, and being the baby of the family his dads tended to let him get away with things, so ‘no’ was usually a difficult thing for Aeradun to accept. But Thalo’thas hadn’t said ‘no’, he’d said Aeradun couldn’t even ask for it and it made Aeradun boil to be so mocked. 

 

He wanted to wipe that smirk off Thalo’thas’ face. The high elf had no right to sit there so calmly, so beautiful, and coolly sure of himself it made Aeradun angry. He had no idea what he was doing but did Thalo’thas have to make it so painfully embarrassing? Aeradun’s tankard was half empty and he could feel the creeping unhinged sensation as he realised he was almost definitely drunk. Vaguely, he considered that maybe he shouldn’t make decisions when he felt so muddled, but Thalo’thas’ back was retreating from the table Aeradun was sat at, and it was like a mockery in itself. He’d finally spoken to the high elf he’d set his sights on this was what he got?

 

No. 

 

Aeradun snatched up his tankard and tipped back the rest of it in two scorching gulps, belching loudly into his hand as he lurched up from his seat. The moment he was upright he swayed hard and gripped the table edge frantically to remain sort of vertical. Definitely drunk, he thought. 

 

It took more effort than it should have to stagger after Thalo’thas but it was satisfying to grab the high elf’s arm and see the surprised expression it earned him. 

 

“I  _ am _ ,” Aeradun insisted, too fiercely convicted of himself to hear how petulant it sounded. Romantic he may have been but Thalo’thas had gotten under his skin and Aeradun could still feel his hand upon his thigh. It had left him wanting and romantic notions weren’t even touching his drunken mind as he licked his lips and pushed into Thalo’thas’ space. 

 

The surprise lingered on Thalo’thas’ face a moment longer and then he threw back the last of his drink before he hauled Aeradun by his arm to the doorway. There were no rooms at the Broken Keel Tavern, but Thalo’thas seemed to have a plan. Which was good, because Aeradun’s plan had never gotten this far. 

 

Outside, heedless of the cheers and exchanged coins in their wake, Thalo’thas drew Aeradun to a stop and helped him gain his footing. Aeradun met the high elf’s gaze with a fierce scowl, hands pulling and twisting in the loose shirt Thalo’thas wore, but when he surged up to kiss the captain, Thalo’thas was too quick. His hand tangled in Aeradun’s hair and pulled him back, arching his neck and baring it for Thalo’thas to attack with his mouth. There was no other way to describe how the high elf used his teeth and tongue on Aeradun’s skin, free arm wrapped around Aeradun’s waist to keep him pulled close.

 

“Still feeling brave?” The high elf taunted.

 

Aeradun scoffed, “Think you can even get it up with all that rum?” 

 

Thalo’thas snorted inelegantly against Aeradun’s neck, leaning back to look almost approving at the insult. “Oh, you  _ are _ feeling brave.”

 

“Better make it worth my time, then,” Aeradun suggested waspishly. 

 

The journey aboard Thalo’thas’ ship didn’t take long, but Aeradun only recalled Thalo’thas’ hands and mouth on his skin as he tripped over his own feet to keep up. The cabin door closed and Aeradun had the fleeting thought that this wasn’t how he pictured his first time. But Thalo’thas’ mouth against his neck and the high elf’s hands sliding up his robe were the more immediate thought. It felt good. It was easy to just give in and go along with it, to not think about it beyond ‘yes, yes, more’ until all he knew was the next day.

 

The morning came merrily to wake Aeradun and stab bright light into his eyes with the crushing ache of a hangover making itself known before he could even recall his own name. He groaned and fought the dizzying urge to throw up, turning away from the sunlight and-

 

And against someone else.

 

His eyes snapped open painfully fast to see the occupant of his bed. No, not his bed. Aeradun was the guest, he realised with cold shock. 

 

Thalo’thas. He was in bed with Captain Thalo’thas. 

 

They’d… oh  _ Light _ ! Aeradun sat up in shock and cried out at the pain that flared sharply with the movement. He ached when he sat still but moving made him very, very aware of what they’d done the night before. Thalo’thas stirred at the noise but he didn’t seem inclined to wake yet, much to Aeradun’s relief.

 

When Aeradun had pictured his first time he had always pictured it slow and gentle, lots of kissing and hushed whispers of love. Maybe a little cliched, but cliched could be sweet. He and Thalo’thas had both been drunk, however, and it had been rough. Rough enough that Aeradun had a dull ache in his backside that twinged with half remembered sensation. Thalo’thas hadn’t been hurtful, hadn’t even been truly careless, and it hadn’t hurt much at the time that he could remember. His throat felt raw from shouting and he flushed to think of it. Of how loud he must have been, of the state he had made of himself. He’d enjoyed it, and he’d been too uninhibited not to let the whole port know about it. From what he could see of Thalo’thas’ chest, Aeradun had scored his nails down the man’s chest in his pleasured state and been just as rough as the captain had been. 

 

They’d never kissed, though. Aeradun remembered that well enough. He could scrape together enough to recall how Thalo’thas’ mouth felt everywhere else but not one kiss. 

 

Aeradun could feel his hands tremble and his eyes felt hot. He couldn’t be crying over a one night stand, was he that desperate for his first time to have meant something? He’d admired the high elf, certainly, but he’d not really thought that it would go anywhere… had he? His gaze slid over to the sleeping high elf beside him and he realised with a sickening twist of his gut that, yes, he had rather hoped that them having sex would mean something. Yet Aeradun could barely remember it but would never be able to forget it, and Thalo’thas? Would the high elf even remember him tomorrow?

 

By the Light, what was he doing?! Aeradun scrambled from the bed, hissing and choking on how it hurt to move too suddenly. He was shaking as he pulled his clothes on, his hair sticking up all over when he pulled his robe on. His staff, Light, where was his staff?!

 

Thalo’thas groaned on the cabin’s bed, seemingly as unhappy to awaken as Aeradun had been. Aeradun felt his heart clench as the high elf’s eyes opened and the sharp, pale blue glow of them fastened on him. Should he have left already? This wasn’t… this wasn’t exactly how Aeradun had imagined it. He was fairly sure that things such as this, well… he wasn’t expected to outstay his welcome. 

 

“... mage?” Thalo’thas’ voice was rough and thick with sleep, and he looked at ease with his nudity but seemed confused by the mage in his cabin for a moment.

 

No…

 

No, that was a question...

 

Oh, Aeradun realised. He had never…

 

He had never told Thalo’thas his name. Thalo’thas had never asked. 

 

Something stricken gripped him and Aeradun knew it showed with how Thalo’thas struggled to sit up, eyeing the mage warily as he grunt, “...uh, mage? Are you-”

 

Aeradun didn’t let the high elf finish as he raised his hands and with a heave of blue, arcane energy he was gone from Thalo’thas’ cabin. He had other staffs, Aeradun thought as his knees met with the rug of his bedroom floor back in Stormwind. He was fine, he told himself as he began to shake. A soft sniffle escaped him and Aeradun grit his teeth against any more. He was not going to cry over a one night stand just because it wasn’t exactly how he’d wanted it to go. He refused to be that pathetic.

 

“-your Papa felt you port back, I know you’re in here and boy, are you in- Aeradun?” Anahlya threw open the door of his room and startled Aeradun, leaving him frozen on the floor and staring up at her with big, wide eyes wet with his own self pity. She went still at seeing him, clearly not how she expected to find him, and all the anger she’d been nursing over being ditched was replaced with concern in a breath. She rushed over to him, her hands outstretched to touch his shoulders as she knelt before him, “What happened?”

 

“N-nothing, it’s nothing-” He babbled.

 

“Don’t you ‘nothing’ me, what happened?” She insisted as Aeradun burrowed into her hold and shook his head. 

 

“Ana, please, I j-just…” He trailed off as he clung to her. It was so stupid and he didn’t want to talk about it, not yet. She was going to be angry, maybe even pity him. He had enough pity just from himself for the moment, and he knew it was stupid to mourn something that he’d built up to be meaningful when it really didn’t mean much, he just wanted to let Anahlya hold him for a moment. So what if his first time had been a one night stand? It didn’t have to be the worst thing in the world, he’d enjoyed it. He’d wanted it, enough to make sure he got it. Why did it hurt to think about, then? 

 

The paladin curled her arms around him and carded her fingers through his messy hair, a clench to her jaw that promised some form of rage later. Aeradun wasn’t sure if it would be fair to tell her, as she was liable to kill Thalo’thas, but it felt nice to let her comfort him. 

 

It shouldn’t have mattered, not really. He’d always been told that firsts were never the best, but… he’d wanted it to matter. Just a little. It was his own fault. Aeradun had thrown something away he’d wanted to be meaningful, all to prove a point, and he was sad for that. He felt he was allowed to be, just for a little while. 

 

Next time; he wanted flowers and candles and sobriety- and all the kisses he pleased.

**Author's Note:**

> My Tumblr: akaiba.tumblr.com


End file.
